If there is one thing I’ve learned in my 35 years, it’s that nothing goes as planned.
I was totally hyped and horrified at the same time this past summer, gearing up to see myself on television as a featured expert on a new and its aging animal disease research facility.
Instead, I was simply horrified by a special that aired in that program’s place: “Mermaids: The Body Found” — a truly mystifying mockumentary using actors as “experts,” a show that had previously aired on Animal Planet about the possible existence of mermaids. It was unbelievable that a creepy CGI-generated mermaid upstaged me that and even more embarrassing that I had promoted the heck out of what I thought would be a wonderful spotlight on the region I’ve come to call home.
I gave Discovery a little bit of hell after that. They did not give me nor other experts like journalist Karl Grossman any heads up about this last minute switch, leaving us (well, especially over-enthused master marketeer me) holding the bag publicity-wise. Since I had bugged the PR guy at Discovery too many times, the poor guy finally got a producer of the show, now entitled “America’s Most Secret: Structures,” to explain to me that last–minute changes happen all the time in television at that the show will no doubt see the light of day. At some point.
So … here we are. Almost a year after filming at various locations on the East End, a segment on America’s most secret island is set to premiere this Sunday at 10 p.m., then again on Oct. 22 and 28. I had given up on Plum Island — I must be honest, I was pretty depressed at Thursday’s public hearing on the federal government’s pre-sale analysis of the island. I thought to myself: “I am so sick of thinking about this place! Let’s get on with things already before I’m buried next to Nelson DeMille in a plot of untouched Plum Island wilderness!”
But hey, nothing goes as planned but everything happens for a reason, right? Now I’ll just have to hope that I’m still in the show, now that I’m over-promoting this thing again …
Don’t miss the exciting premiere of “America’s Most Secret: Structures,” featuring Plum Island, Sunday at 10:00 p.m. ET on the Discovery Channel.
America’s Most Secret: Structures
This one-hour special investigates America's most classified sites and their covert activities.
